Mercifully, God also brings us to the point, where we can’t even stop praying those prayers. But although when we care about about a prayer, our hearts face temptation to grow weary. We long for answers. After all, that’s why we keep praying.

This week, I was faced with the feeling that we need to see prayers answered. You know what I mean? There are prayers where we struggle to understand why they aren’t answered; ones where finally receiving an answer would bring such relief. A subconscious question seemed to form in my mind: can we can receive some answers….quickly….?

Jesus doesn’t tell us that exactly. What He does say is that we ought always to pray and not lose heart. He does say to have faith in God. He does say that God delights in our prayers. And He does say that there is a reward for the labor and tears we bring to the Throne.

For anyone who’s praying the same things for a long time, this brings comfort to my own heart:

Never a trial that He is not there,Never a burden that He doth not bear;Never a sorrow that He doth not share,Moment by moment, I’m under His care.(Moment by Moment, hymn)

What grace it is, to remember we aren’t alone bringing a burden over and over to God’s door. We aren’t shifting the weight alone, hoping one day to let it go. Jesus is sympathizing and bearing, no matter the time frame. If it’s been years, Jesus is bearing that burden for all those years with you.

Don’t we want to trust God? Isn’t that the desire welling up inside us, that distinct longing that we cannot (nor ever want to) escape? Oh friend, trust Him with those prayers that you’re still praying. That’s what I want to do, too! God is instilling beautiful virtue in your life right now. These trials are making you more like His Son. Those prayers are precious to His heart, right now. He’ll carry them for as many years as He asks you to. And you will have your reward; God loves when His children trust Him!

From of old no one has heardor perceived by the ear,no eye has seen a God besides you,who acts for those who wait for him.
(Isaiah 64:4)